Almost 10 years since the Patriot's Day bombing...
sports.yahoo.com/nightengales-notebook-2013-red-sox-110208989.htmlNightengale's Notebook: 2013 Red Sox 'knew what it meant' to win World Series after Marathon bombing
BOB NIGHTENGALE, USA TODAY
Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 7:07 AM PDT
24 min read
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They will be standing alongside one another at Fenway Park on Sunday, basking in the glory of their triumph on a baseball field, but also fighting back tears and the raw emotions of that horrific afternoon still searing their souls.
The Boston Red Sox are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their improbable 2013 World Series championship, but the reality is that baseball will only be the backdrop, with everyone recognizing just what their achievement meant to a shaken community.
It was 10 years ago on Patriots Day, April 15, 2013, that two bombs went off, 14 seconds apart at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed. Seventeen people lost limbs. Nearly 300 people were injured.
It was the largest terrorist attack in America since 9/11.
“It’s something that will stay with me, for all of us, forever,’’ Jonny Gomes, one of the leaders of that World Series team told USA TODAY Sports. “We are going to be celebrating a World Series championship season, but at the same time, there’s a very sobering event that happened.
“I’m not sure it’s a celebration, but a remembrance.’’
The Red Sox have won four World Series titles in the last 20 years, including the 2004 World Series that broke their 86-year curse, but none will ever have the impact of that 2013 season.
“With all respect to the different championship teams,’’ said Red Sox president Sam Kennedy, who was born and raised in Boston, “that team is the most important team in our time here given the magnitude of what happened here at the finish line.
“Patriots Day is so important in the ethos of New Englanders, with kids not having school, the Marathon, our [11 a.m.] Patriots Day Game. It’s the greatest sports day in Boston. This whole region was robbed of that innocence. Our lives have never been the same."
The Red Sox just finished playing their early baseball game that day, winning 3-2 over Tampa Bay on Mike Napoli’s walk-off double, They quickly showered, trying to beat the traffic, and boarded the bus headed to Logan Airport for Cleveland.
The first bomb went off at 2:49 p.m., 39 minutes after their game ended.
Then, a second bomb.
They had no idea what happened until they were on the bus and started seeing the horrifying images on their cell phones.
“I remember we thought there was an electric transformer explosion,’’ Gomes said, “and then you start seeing these gruesome photos, blood all over the place, body parts all over. Then, you see all of these firetrucks, ambulances, police cars all pouring into the city from the other side of the freeway. And we’re hauling ass away from town.
“We’re supposed to be these heroes that play for the Red Sox, and we’re leaving. It didn’t sit right with me. It was a sobering moment.’’
The Red Sox landed in Cleveland and quickly organized a team dinner at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. No one talked about baseball. They instead talked about life. They talked about rallying around the city. They talked about winning the World Series.
“I remember when I got traded over there at the deadline,’’ pitcher Jake Peavy said, “I go into the clubhouse early and run into Jonny Gomes. He says, 'Glad to have you, we’re one day closer to the parade.’ I didn’t know what he was talking about. I walked over to Salty [Jarrod Saltalamacchia], and I said, “Hey, my family is coming to town, and Gomes said something about a parade. Is there something going on for the kids?’
“He says, 'Man, he’s talking about the World Series parade.
“Yeah, we’re going to win the World Series.’’
David Ortiz speaks during a pre-game ceremony at Fenway Park on April 20, 2013.
David Ortiz speaks during a pre-game ceremony at Fenway Park on April 20, 2013.
The truth is the Red Sox, a team mostly filled with veterans on short-term contracts, were talking about the World Series back in spring training. Gomes told his teammates he was not going to shave until after the World Series “so when the playoffs start, this thing is going to look majestic.’’ Dustin Pedroia told Red Sox president Larry Lucchino before they played a single spring-training game that the team was going to go all of the way. Lucchino laughed at him, and then told them if that happened, he’d buy him a car.
The Red Sox returned to Boston after their three-game series in Cleveland and this time, their buses were the only vehicles on the highway. The city was on lockdown searching for the bombers.
“I remember being on the phone with city hall officials, Mayor [Thomas] Menino,’’ Kennedy said. “He kept insisting that we were playing. He said, 'We’re not letting these guys shut us down.'"
The first game of their series on Friday was canceled. That evening, the terrorists were found. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured inside a boat in the suburb of Watertown and today is on death row.
The city, finally able to breathe again, slowly filtered out to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox and Royals play Saturday afternoon, April 20, in perhaps the most emotional game of their lives. The Red Sox invited all of the first responders, doctors, nurses, hospital workers, FBI officials, marathon workers, government officials and everyone who played a role in the healing of the city.
“There must have been 250 people in that clubhouse,’’ Kennedy said, “hugging each other, crying together. It was just this outpouring of emotion.’’
They gathered together on the field for a 25-minute ceremony, and David Ortiz, who had been on the injured list to open the season and was at Triple-A Pawtucket when the bombings occurred, was suddenly asked if he could say a few words to the crowd. Ortiz, unprepared, slowly walked out, and stepped up to the mic with the American flag draped across the Green Monster, thanked everyone, and then uttered the line that will live forever in Boston history.
“This is our [bleeping] city, and nobody gonna dictate our freedom.
“Stay strong.’’
“It was like a shock at first,’’ Gomes said. “Like, did he really say [bleep]? Come on, I think he said [bleep]. The place just went nuts.’’
It was perfect, with even Mayor Menino giving Ortiz a high-five as he walked off the field.
“I didn’t even know that I said that,’’ Ortiz would later say.
The Red Sox won that game, 4-2, on Daniel Nava’s three-run homer. They were moved by the resiliency of the city and spent the next few weeks and months privately visiting victims in hospitals. They went to local fire stations and police departments. They were all in this together now.
“People say that the fans jumped on our back that year,’’ Peavy said. “That’s wrong. We rode on their back. They carried us. We had to win the World Series that year.
“We knew what it meant.’’
Boston police officer Steve Horgan poses for a photo inside of Fenway Park prior to the World Series parade in 2013.
Boston police officer Steve Horgan poses for a photo inside of Fenway Park prior to the World Series parade in 2013.
This was one of the most unique teams in baseball history, a team that came off a last-place, 69-93 season, their worst in 47 years. They fired manager Bobby Valentine and brought in John Farrell. They overhauled the makeup of the clubhouse. GM Ben Cherington brought in gritty veterans on short-term deals who had winning pedigrees.
They nearly went wire-to-wire, in first place all but 14 days, running away with the AL East and having the time of their lives.
“There will never be another team like it again,’’ Peavy said. “It was truly a team where the prisoners ran the prison. We knew how to win. We knew what it would take. And nobody was going to stop us.
“I mean, the things we did, let me tell you, we had some crazy characters.’’
There was that time in Tampa when they lost their third consecutive game. They called a closed-door, players-only team meeting, and posted signs throughout the clubhouse, making sure the media was aware of it.
They kicked the media out and spent the time talking about playoff shares and postseason plans.
It was mid-May.
There was the August night in Toronto when the players hung out at a local bar, perhaps a bit overserved, headed back to the hotel at 2 in the morning, when someone came up with the idea of waking up beloved third base coach Brian Butterfield.
They knew Butterfield went to bed early so Pedroia tiptoed down the hotel hallway, knocked on Butterfield’s door, and told him that he really needed to talk to him. Butterfield groggily opened the door, and as soon as it cracked open, there were about 15 Red Sox players barging through the door.
Recalled Peavy: “We told Butter, 'I don’t know if you know this, but we're winning the World Series. We got to know, Game 7 on the line – you ready to call a squeeze play? You ready to call a steal?'
“So there’s Butter, actually calling signs in his underwear, when we’re all liquored up.’’
Said Gomes: “We even had him practicing shaking guys’ hands after rounding third base when we hit World Series home runs. It was outrageous.’’
Well, maybe not quite as ludicrous as the day before the playoffs when Farrell called a team meeting. The players thought it was pointless. They had been winning the whole year doing things their own way, so why change now?
Well, with the entire team gathered in the weight room, pitcher Ryan Dempster bursts through the door 30 seconds into the meeting, wearing nothing but a jock strap, eye-black on his face, his mouth filled with chewing tobacco, holding a bottle of Captain Morgan.
Dempster, as his alter-ego “Jack Hammer," told Farrell the team just needs to concentrate on the three F’s:
Fundamentals.
Foul tips: “Catchers, you got catch those foul tips so we can have strikeouts.’’
Four-run homers: “Boys, load the bases up so when we hit those homers, we’ll get more runs out of it.’’
Meeting over.
In six games, so was the World Series, with the Red Sox beating the St. Louis Cardinals and winning their first championship at home since 1918.
The party lasted for days, right through the parade, when they rode in duck boats (with Peavy actually purchasing one) and stopping just before the finish line of the Marathon on Boylston Street.
Gomes climbed out of the duck boat, clutching the World Series trophy, placed it at the finish line, draped a Boston Strong jersey over it, and stepped back.
“I put the World Series trophy down,’’ Gomes said, “and I’m thinking, 'Damn, this is right where the bombs went a couple of months ago.' It was pretty emotional.’’
“I’ll never forget that moment, I’ll never forget that team,’’ David Ross said. “It changed my life.’’
Says Pedroia: “The toughest baseball team I’ve ever seen. That team would have won in any era.’’
And, yes, just in case anyone wonders, Pedroia did get that car.
Pedroia reminded Kennedy after they clinched a playoff berth in mid-September about the offer, slapped the picture of a Ford Raptor car on his desk, and told him: “Make sure Lucchino doesn’t forget.’’
The car was delivered a few months later.
Even now, 10 years later, Red Sox players are stopped on the streets.
“That just resonated with so many people,’’ Ross said.
“We were just doing our job, and feeding off all of the love we received.’’
The Red Sox visited the Marathon finish line Saturday for the ringing of the bells. They’ll be honored at Fenway on Sunday with Marathon victims and their families in attendance. And Monday, Ortiz will be the Grand Marshal of the 127th Boston Marathon, with Dempster and former Red Sox infielder Brock Holt running the marathon.
“This will be as emotional a moment as time is standing still,’’ Peavy said, “honoring victims, and making sure they get their day of remembrance along with all of the first responders. We can celebrate who this team was. What this city meant to us. And tell the story how we unified and pulled something off larger than life.
“We are Boston Strong.’’